Entries Tagged as 'Fact Check'

By Arthur Alpert I promised to write “next time” on how Albuquerque Journal editors are treating Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin and Rep. Steve Pearce of southern New Mexico, but I lied. Well, it wasn’t exactly a lie and I will do it, soon, but first a necessary postscript to Saturday’s piece about the Albuquerque […]

By Arthur Alpert I was poised to launch into another critique of the Albuquerque Journal’s continuing assault on truth and beauty when Winthrop Quigley intervened, committing what looks very much like journalism. Quigley wasn’t a spoiler, though; he just provided a sharp contrast between the Journal’s insistent political advocacy and what staffers like Quigley strive […]

By Arthur Alpert Is a newspaper responsible for its syndicated columnists? For the columnists’ factual accuracy and intellectual honesty, I mean. It’s not an easy question. An answer in the affirmative puts a serious burden on editors. It’s time-consuming to read copy carefully and decide if it should be published as is, corrected or shelved. […]

By Arthur Alpert I rarely write about the Albuquerque Journal’s editorials because the daily’s owners have a right to express their opinions there. And since the aim of most editorials is to persuade, the authors deserve plenty of room to assemble and tailor evidence for the argument. That said, editorials ought to live up to […]

By Arthur Alpert I’m involved in a production of Steve Martin’s “Picasso at the Lapin Agile” opening Sept. 5 at the brand-new Vortex on Carlisle NE. Given its authorship, it’s no big surprise the play is funny, but in rehearsal I realized Martin also excels at making audiences feel intelligent. My colleague, Denise Tessier, has […]

By Arthur Alpert In a July 21 post hypothesizing that a True Believer or two in the Albuquerque Journal hierarchy may explain the newspaper’s egregious faults, I noted that the editors do not fact-check the columns they run on the editorial and Op Ed pages. Today let’s consider why. It could be ignorance; what management […]

By Arthur Alpert Here’s what Rasmussen Reports, the national polling firm, said Thursday, July 24: “A new statewide telephone survey of Likely New Mexico Voters finds Martinez and King each with 43% support. Seven percent (7%) like some other candidate, and another seven percent (7%) are undecided.” Big surprise, huh? Many New Mexicans, given Governor […]

By Arthur Alpert This morning (Friday, Aug. 8) I was enjoying the Albuquerque Journal’s editorial on making food stamp recipients shape up (subtext, it’s entirely their fault) until they used one Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation as an expert witness. That’s when my amusement at the Ebenezer Scrooge performance gave way to – I […]

By Arthur Alpert Remember that old Albuquerque Journal hand who told me I was too quick to finger management’s political commissars for what was wrong at the daily. My informant advised that a lot of mistakes could be laid at the door of young, inexperienced staffers. I’ve not forgotten and sometimes the Old Hand is […]

By Denise Tessier Two recent Albuquerque Journal editorials – on why Americans should celebrate the Fourth of July (“Try Asking a Guatemalan”) and one on the nation’s debt – were called out for criticism by JournalWatch colleague Arthur Alpert last week, and caught my attention as well because of their distorted “analysis”. But, sadly, the […]